About Me

I am a surgical oncologist who specializes in treating men and women with diseases of the liver, bile duct, gallbladder, and pancreas. Since joining the Memorial Sloan Kettering faculty in 1999, I have been part of a multidisciplinary team of surgeons, gastroenterologists, interventional radiologists, medical oncologists, nurse practitioners, and specialty nurses who care for patients with these cancers.

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As Head of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Division of General Surgical Oncology, I oversee the Hepatopancreatobiliary, Colorectal, and Gastric and Mixed Tumor services in the Department of Surgery. We are committed to providing the highest level of surgical care for patients with cancer and routinely perform complex surgical procedures to remove tumors in these organs.

My clinical research has focused on liver, bile duct, gallbladder, and pancreas cancers. In addition, I have led several national trials testing the benefit of imatinib mesylate (Gleevec) following surgery for gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), a tumor that usually begins in the stomach or intestine. To help patients and their families better understand these complicated diseases, I co-authored two books — “100 Questions & Answers About Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor (GIST)” and “100 Questions & Answers About Liver Cancer”.

In the laboratory my colleagues and I study the immune environment of the liver and tumor immunology. We are working to develop immune therapies to help prevent tumors from returning after surgery. Our research has been supported by several grants from the National Institutes of Health and generous gifts from patients and philanthropic foundations.

Pubmed is an online index of biomedical articles maintained by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.

Clinical Trials

As home to one of the world’s top cancer research centers, Memorial Sloan Kettering is typically involved in more than 900 clinical trials at a given time. Currently, clinical trials focused on the conditions I treat are enrolling new patients. If you’re interested in joining a clinical trial, click to learn about the trial’s purpose, eligibility criteria, and how to get more information.

Insurance

Most major health insurers offer plans that include MSK as one of their in-network providers. If MSK is in-network, it means all our doctors are too. Medicaid and New York State Medicare also provide benefits for care at MSK.